Chapter 170: Perfecting Theory

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Since the data had arrived, the problem was how to organize it now.

There was a lack of theory support for quantum chromodynamics.

From a statistical point of view, the number of samples was too small.

Lu Zhou analyzed the 10GB data for five nights and finally came to a conclusion.

If he wanted to confirm whether or not this was an abnormal characteristic peak, he would still need to run the LHC for a few more laps. With the current amount of data, Lu Zhou could not even make a three-sigma conclusion.

After five nights, Lu Zhou took the data and research results to Professor Lu Shenjian.

After all, he could not convince CERN by himself. He was only an intern.

When Lu Zhou explained his viewpoint to Professor Lu, he thought that Professor Lu would maybe be interested. He did not expect a negative reply.

“The Hadron Collider won’t run for your whimsy theory. In order to look for 750GeV particles, the collision energy must be at least 1.2TeV or maybe even 2TeV. The LHC’s schedule is tight, and CERN has endless amounts of experiments to do. Everyone wants to verify that their theory is correct, but the funding is limited.”

Lu Zhou did not give up and he continued to try to convince Professor Lu, “But Professor, we haven’t found any new particles since the “post-standard model” era, don’t you think this could be an opportunity?”

Lu Zhou was correct. Whether it was the tetraquark or the pentaquark, the confidence was less than five-sigma. They were classified as “signs” and not “discoveries”.

If the signal at 750 GeV confirmed a new particle, Lu Zhou would not know what it would mean to the world of physics. This was because he did not even know what the particle could be.

For him, personally, he was sure that if the discovery was determined to be true, he would receive a Nobel Prize.

“To be honest, I don’t think so,” said Professor Lu Shenjian as he shook his head. He then said, “750 GeV is way too heavy. From a quantum chromodynamics point of view, this is almost impossible.”

Lu Zhou argued, “But we observed this signal both on ATLAS and CMS? Do you think this is just a coincidence?”

“Yes, you’re right, it might not be a coincidence,” said Professor Lu as he nodded. He pointed to the data on the paper, “But haven’t you ever thought that it could just be a two-photon gluon polymerization?”

Lu Zhou nodded and said, “You’re right, that is possible. But I need to do experiments to confirm this!”

Professor Lu looked at his energetic student and smiled. He paused for a moment then sighed, “I understand the experiment in your heart as similar things have happened before. I want to help you undergo this experiment, but I cannot convince CERN to do this. I don’t have that power.”

Lu Zhou fell silent.

The LHC was not theirs, so they could not just use it as they please. Unless they had solid evidence to convince the heads of CERN, they would not be able to use it.

However, this was a catch-22.

If he could not do the experiment, he could not collect evidence, and he could not do the experiment without evidence…

Lu Zhou did not know what to do.

If they discovered this particle in the future, he would have no involvement in it.

After all, he did not work at CERN. He still had to go graduate, and he had to go to Princeton.

Lu Zhou went back to his room and laid in his bed as he stared at the thesis with a blank expression.

Suddenly, he coughed softly and asked in a quiet voice.

“System, is there a particle at the 750 GeV range?”

The system did not answer.

Maybe because my physics level is too low?

Or maybe because this question is too difficult?

F*ck sake, the general points feel so useless.

Lu Zhou took a deep breath and sat up from his bed.

It was too early to give up.

There were still opportunities.

CERN would not start the LHC just for an intern.

However, if he could find someone that had more influence, that person could persuade CERN for him!

Many of the world’s top theoretical physicists were gathered here, so there were lots of influential people.

These people would stay here until the end of the month, and CERN would then conclude the pentaquark research results.

Lu Zhou only had to do one thing, and that was to improve his hypothesis by the end of the month.

…

Perfecting the hypothesis to his theory was not easy.

He had to prove that the sample was sufficiently large enough through mathematical means and that the bulge in the 750 GeV region formed a characteristic peak.

This sounded like a statistical problem, but he did not have enough samples. It was impossible to use statistical tools to solve this problem.

He needed more evidence.

Only then, he could form new conclusions from the evidence.

“… This is 2012-2013 experimental data from ATHC and CMS detectors. This data was from the Higgs particle experiment, but the Higgs particle is only 125 GeV.”

Professor Grayer sat in his office as he threw the USB into Lu Zhou’s hands.

Lu Zhou caught the USB and said sincerely, “It’s fine, thank you very much!”

Professor Grayer was one of the few people Lu Zhou could receive help from.

Even though they had only just met, Professor Grayer and Lu Zhou’s personality clicked well. Even though the professor was pessimistic about Lu Zhou’s research, he still gave him the valuable data.

Although this data was not confidential, it was also closed to the public. If he did not have any connections to CERN, it would be impossible to get this data.

Professor Grayer smiled and said, “You’re welcome, it’s no big deal. Speaking of which, how’s your research progress going?”

Lu Zhou nodded and said, “I’ve progressed a bit.”

Professor Grayer reminded, “If you want to use the Hadron Collider, my suggestion is to find someone who is influential in the theoretical physics community to help you. After all, no matter how much you analyze the data, you still need to use the LHC.”

Lu Zhou replied, “That’s what I’m planning to do, but I want to make my hypothesis theory more reliable first.”

Professor Grayer asked, “Do you have a suitable goal?”

Lu Zhou shook his head, “Not yet…”

He wanted to wait until after a presentation before he handed in his thesis to the presenter.

This was his only method.

Professor Grayer thought for a moment before saying, “Do you want me to recommend someone to you?”

Lu Zhou asked immediately, “Yes, please! Who do you recommend?”

When Professor Grayer saw Lu Zhou’s eagerness, he smiled and said, “Frank Wilczek, winner of 2004 Nobel Prize for physics. He’s probably the easiest to convince, so you might have a chance.”

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